Unexposed Sea The Stars colt Enceladus (7/1) provided Joseph O’Brien with a fourth winner of the meeting in the King George V Stakes.

Partnered for the first time by Ryan Moore, Enceladus was able to get a good position from his wide draw [13] and was perfectly placed throughout the 12-furlong contest.

After going for home at the top of the straight, Enceladus found plenty to hold off Al Azd (11/1) by a half-length, with Believed (14/1) and Heyzoom (6/1) filling the minor places.

Homebred by Flaxman Stables, Enceladus was making his handicap debut off a mark of 89 after winning a Cork maiden in April.

O’Brien said: “The race set up differently today than it usually does, with a slow pace. Ryan made a good move early to change the plan a little bit and got a good spot handy, and that was the winning of the race, I think. The horse was very tenacious.

“I am really delighted for Maria [Niarchos, owner]. She has been so good to me all my training career, and to have another Royal Ascot winner for her and the team is very special. We are very lucky to be able to train some nice horses with good pedigrees for Maria and the team.

“This guy had a very good two-year-old season. We thought he would enjoy stepping up in trip and the plan was to wait for today to do that. If you win a handicap at Royal Ascot, especially one of the three-year-old races, generally you’re a Stakes horse or a group horse in the making. He is potentially [a St Leger horse], but you’d have to go to a trial between now and then – but he is a group horse in the making, hopefully.

“We have a fantastic team at home and a great team of owners that support us with some lovely horses. We have been building that for the last number of seasons. Royal Ascot is such a tough place to come. We thought we had a very strong team, but a lot of them were big prices, so you lose a little bit of confidence when you see 20/1 beside your name. To have four winners by Thursday here is far beyond what we could have dreamed.”

Moore said: “I had a nice smooth run. Enceladus began well and relaxed lovely on the outside of them. He didn’t go mad at any stage of the race and found all the way in the straight. He was only having his fourth run, so everyone is probably still learning about him, but he’s a fine, big scopey horse. He may get further, but I don’t think he has to. It just shows you the strength there is in Ireland; this is Joseph’s [O’Brien] fourth winner – quite incredible.”